Reciprocating engine, particularly an internal combustion engine



Aug. 5, 1958 o. PETERSEN 2,845,919

RECIPROCATING' ENGINE. PARTICULARLY AN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed Dec. 16, 1957 ii ii I 19 l| I 16 1e 1 l' ail- I l' I, I 11 IN l 2 11: E l II I 25 24 15 g 1o 12: I B 14 United States Patent M RECIPROCATING ENGINE, PARTICULARLY AN INTERNAL COB/EUSTION ENGINE Ove Petersen, Gentofte, Denmark, assignor to Aktieselskabet Burmeister & Wains Maskin-Og Skibsbyggeri, Copenhagen, Denmark Application December 16, 1957, Serial No. 702,961 Claims priority, application Denmark December 18, 1956 1 Claim. (Cl. 123-195) The present invention relates to internal combustion engines of the type in which each cylinder is provided in the surface of the combustion chamber opposite to the piston with one or more ports serving for the discharge of the combustion products and being controlled by one'or more valves mounted in a valve casing located at the said end of the cylinder.

The main purpose of the invention is to devise a construction providing for easy demounting with a. view to inspecting and possibly exchanging the piston and the piston rings. The invention is therefore of particular importance in internal combustion engines where such an overhaul must be undertaken with the least possible waste of time, and this applies in particular to ships installations.

The invention consists in the combination of the following features:

The said valve casing forms a plug inserted into a barrel-shaped extension of the cylinder and clamped axially against an annular shoulder at the transition between said cylinder and said barrel by means of a cover and stay bolts anchored in the engine frame, bores leading into the combustion space for accomodating fuel valves, safety valve, starting valve, indicator-valve and similar cylinder accessories are carried transversely to the axial direction of the cylinder through the peripheral wall of the combustion space,

A discharge pipe for exhaust gas is connected to said barrel and communicates with the said valve-controlled port(s) to the combustion space through channels in the valve casing opening onto the peripheral wall thereof in register with corresponding apertures in the barrel, and

The upper end of the cylinder consists of a separate ring which forms the peripheral wall of the combustion space, contains the said bores for the cylinder accessories, serves as a clamping ring for clamping the cylinder liner proper to the stationary frame parts, and carries the said barrel together with the said annular shoulder for the plug-like valve casing.

Due to this combination the cylindrical valve casing will form the cylinder cover proper, and so that the cylinder can be opened and the piston taken out when the valve casing is removed with only partial disassembling of the exhaust valve actuating means and a few cooling water pipes, while most of the remaining cylinder accessories and in particular the pipes for the media participating in the working process can remain intact due to the fact that the cylinder proper and the barrel which is in fixed connection therewith need not be removed. In the ordinary types of internal combustion engines hitherto used, where the cylinder cover contains the exhaust valve(s) and most of the remaining cylinder accessories, a considerable disassembling and reassembling work is required, which is now eliminated. In marine engines, in particular, this simplification is of great importance, since it becomes now possible to perform the overhaul of a cylinder during very short stays in port.

The simpler disassembling work also entails less risk 2,845,919 Patented Aug. 5, 1958 of secondary errors, such as unsatisfactory assembling of pipe lines that have been taken apart.

When the valve casing has several valve-controlled apertures they all serve as exhaust valves.

The invention is illustrated on the accompanying drawing which as an example shows a part section through the upper portions of a cylinder with associated valve case and cover in a two-stroke cycle engine with longitudinal scavenging and a single exhaust valve.

On the drawing, 1 designates a cylinder liner, the lower end, not shown, of which with piston-controlled scavenging ports in the usual manner projects down into a scavenging air box. The cylinder liner is surrounded by a cooling jacket 2 and is at its upper end provided with a flange clamped between the upper edge of the cooling jacket 2 and a separate ring 3 which forms the part of the cylinder containing the combustion space 23 and through which bores 22 for the ordinary cylinder accessories, such as fuel valves, starting valve, safety valve, and indicator valve, are led in. In the interest of clarity only a single such bore is shown.

On the top of the annular ring member 3, a barrel 5 I is bolted which forms an extension of the cylinder and. is open in its upper end. The bore of the barrel 5 has. a somewhat larger diameter than the bore of the cylinder, so that a continuous annular shoulder 14 is formed which forms a seating and sealing face for a corresponding continuous annular seating face 13 on a cylindrical valve casing 6 inserted in the barrel 5.

This valve casing 6 is clamped by means of a cylinder cover 17 which has no other essential function beyond acting as a clamping member through which the usual stay bolts is keep the whole construction rigidly assembled by means of nuts 16 acting on the top of the cover 17 which furthermore carries brackets for valve rocker arms 20 operated by push rods 21 from a cam shaft, not shown.

In this way, the valve casing 6 forms the cylinder cover proper which closes the working space 23 of the cylinder and in the bottom wall facing the said space is provided with a port 7 controlled by an ordinary poppet valve 8 operated by the actuating mechanism 20, 21 mentioned above. From the port 7, a channel 9 leads to an opening located on the peripheral surface of the valve casing 6 between two axially spaced sealing zones, each of which is provided by means of a pair of risilient sealing rings 11 and 12, respectively, inserted in grooves in the outer surface of the valve case. Registering with the opening of the channel 9, the barrel 5 is provided with an aperture 10 to Which an outer pipe 26 for the exhaust gas passing through the port 7 is connected by means of a flange 25 and which is continued into an exhaust pipe 24.

In the embodiment shown, the valve casing 6 is made as a separate member which is bolted to the underside of the cover 17 and is provided with a separate cooling circuit indicated by cooling water pipes 18 and 19; thus, it is possible to control the cooling of the valve casing separately with a view to obtaining the desired rate of heat withdrawal from the lower wall of the valve casing facing the combustion space 23.

As appears from the drawing, the cover 17 with the valve casing 6 mounted thereupon can be lifted vertically and removed after unscrewing the stay bolt nuts 16, partial disassembling the valve actuating mechanism 20, 21, and disconnecting the cooling water pipes 18 and 19. During this operation it is unnecessary to loosen or dismantle the barrel 5 and the pipe line 24, 26 for the exhaust gas connected thereto or to touch any connecmatically on the drawing, can be pulled out or together with parts of the associated driving gear after the usual disassembling of these members.

The subsequent assembling is equally simple to perform, so that the total overhaul operation can be performed in about half the time spent in the hitherto known internal combustion engines with valves in the cylinder cover. Hereby the possibility is created of maintaining a more satisfactory state of the engine without any extra delay and the operation losses deriving therefrom;

As mentioned above, the invention can also be used in internal combustion engines with several valve-controlled ports in the face of the valve casing facing the combustion chamber. There may for example instead of a single large exhaust valve as shown on the drawing he used two or more smaller valves.

I claim:

An internal combustion engine having at least one port for the discharge of exhaust gas in the surface of the combustion space opposed to the working piston and controlled by one or more valves accommodated in a valve casing at the relevant cylinder end, characterized by the combination of the following features: the said valve casing (6) forms a plug inserted into a barrel-shaped extension of the cylinder (1) and clamped axially against an annular shoulder (14) at the transition between said cylinder and said barrel by means of a cover (17) and stay bolts (15) anchored in the engine frame; bores (22) leading into the combustion space (23) for accommodating fuel valves, safety valves, indicator-valves and similar cylinder accessories are carried transversely to the axial direction of the cylinder through the peripheral Wall of the combustion space; a discharge pipe (26) for exhaust gas is connected to said barrel (5) and communicates with the said valve-controlled port(s) (7) to the combustion space (23) through channels in the valve casing opening onto the peripheral Wall thereof in register with corresponding apertures (10) in the barrel (5), and the upper end of the cylinder consists of a separate ring ('3) which forms the peripheral wall of the combustion space, contains the said bores (22) for the cylinder accessories, serves as .a clamping ring for clamping the cylinder liner proper to the stationary frame parts (2), and carries the said barrel (5) together with the said annular shoulder (14) for the plug-like valve casing (6).

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,558,214 Archaoulofi Oct. 20, 1925 1,575,638 Pochobradsky et al Mar. 9, 1926 2,020,461 Dennison et al Nov, 12, 1935 2,458,447 Tacchella Jan. 4, 1949 2,464,652 Petersen Mar. 15, 1949 

